Lights go dark Saturday night for Earth Hour

Earth Hour — billed as the largest climate awareness event in history — reaches Issaquah and King County on Saturday night, as nonessential lights go dark.

“Turning off the lights for one hour is a positive gesture to call attention to the relationship between energy use and climate change,” County Executive Dow Constantine said in a release. “The real challenge is translating this gesture into earth-friendly actions we can take at all hours of every day.”

The city and county plan to join hundreds of millions of people and tens of thousands of organizations in the event. Earth Hour is scheduled for 8:30-9:30 p.m.

Constantine has signed a proclamation in support of Earth Hour 2011, a global event spearheaded by the World Wildlife Fund.

But not every light is going dark during Earth Hour. Lights needed for public safety, security and essential operations remain on.

“We encourage residents and businesses to think about their energy use and turn off all non-essential lights, electrical appliances, electronics and machines,” Constantine said.

Earth Hour started in Sydney in 2007 and, by the following year, more than 50 million people around the globe participated in the event. In 2009, almost 1 billion people worldwide joined and, last year, Earth Hour included 4,200 cities in 125 countries.

Comments

I recently came from an extended stay in South America, specifically URUGUAY,
Much like Washington St in weather. What I want to say , is Electricity is so expensive there, they actuall TURN OFF all company and business lights when the last person leaves the office, the City is virtually Dark, except for the Hotels, which can and do charge a power subsidity per room and the casino.
I truly think that should be the way we operate here in the states.. Oh yes i remember them saying it cost less to leave the lights on than turn them off and re start them.. However I think and hope that will be re thought off.
and btw,, there they put their milk cartons in bags not cartens. They produce 1/3 or 1/2 what we produce in garbage, and their Interstates if you will DO not have ruts in them.

Ron

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